A/HRC/4/9/Add.3 page 25 90. The Poverty Action Network Ethiopia (PANE) was established in March 2004. PANE has over 70 institutional members and aims to coordinate the involvement of civil society groups and to empower citizens for active participation in the design, implementation and monitoring of poverty reduction policies including the Government’s Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme (SDPRP).27 91. Ethiopia’s enhanced agricultural programme, food security and rural area safety net programme are valuable initiatives by the Government. However measures are required to ensure that such programmes meet the needs of minorities, often the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in all regions, including through awareness-raising initiatives, needs assessments and monitoring mechanisms. VIII. CONCLUSIONS 92. The official recognition of distinct groups, cultures and languages has been a major success of the current Government and Constitution. Under the Constitution there is a clear acknowledgement that all groups have a place in Ethiopian society at both the regional and federal level. Reforms have given renewed status to many more languages and enabled their use in public education and government administration. 93. The independent expert considers the Constitution to be exemplary in its human rights provisions, and welcomes explicit references to international human rights law. Anti-discrimination provisions established in article 25 provide a valuable constitutional basis for promoting non-discrimination and equality. 94. Commendable efforts to recognize the diverse nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia should go hand in hand with equally necessary policies to promote unity in diversity in a nation with historic ethnic divisions, tensions and unequal power relationships. The promotion of a common Ethiopian identity, shared by all groups, and underpinning the democratic functioning of the ethnic federal system, is considered a necessary component of a stable, peaceful and inclusive Ethiopia. 95. To date, however, the promise of the Constitution and the aspiration of ethnic groups for empowerment and a sense of full participation in decision-making have not been achieved and remain largely unfulfilled. The independent expert was deeply concerned that discussions with non-governmental actors commonly included expressions of lack of faith in political processes, domination by a political and ethnically-based elite, despair, hopelessness and fear. Events following the May 2005 elections, including well-documented killing of protesters and imprisonment of opposition leaders, have deeply undermined confidence in democratic processes and the democratic legitimacy of the current Government. Many remain in jail awaiting trial on charges of “attempted genocide” and “treason”. 27 They have elaborated a system of citizen report cards to monitor and evaluate the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme (SDPRP). The success of the initiative is recognized in the Government’s invitation to PANE to comment on the draft SDPRP II.